[Jacob-list] How much to feed bottle-fed lambs?

[Betty Berlenbach]

My understanding is that ifyou feed a lamb cowmilk, it will starve to death; cow milk doesn't have nearly the same amount of butterfat as goat or sheepmilk.  Goat milk replacer or goat milk is better than cow milk.  Goat milk is probably better than lamb milk replacer...but cow milk on its own...everything I've read is it's asking for trouble.  Does anyone else have information corroborating this or blasting it as a myth?  (cow milk bad)
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Carl Fosbrink 
  To: Jason Anders ; jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
  Sent: Monday, April 04, 2011 9:10 AM
  Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] How much to feed bottle-fed lambs?


  I am not sure how runny you are talking about. It is not unusual for the stools to be soft and yellow in color at a week old. They won't get solid until they are eating solid food. They should be able to eat as much as they wish about 4 times a day at this age. I would recommend a lamb milk replacer instead of goat milk replacer or even whole cows milk as real milk seems to be better than the replacer. Maybe you could find a dairy farmer in your area who would sell you milk for the lambs. Real goat's milk would be good too, but harder to find and probably more expensive than cow's milk.
    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: Jason Anders 
    To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com 
    Sent: Monday, April 04, 2011 8:07 AM
    Subject: [Jacob-list] How much to feed bottle-fed lambs?


    Good Morning:

    One week ago we had two lambs born that were rejected by their mother.  It seems that she didn't have enough milk and by the time we found them, they had gone probably 5-6 hours without feeding.  We feed them colostrum and kept them going.  We are now feeding a kid goat milk replacer recommended by our vet but are having a hard time knowing how much to feed them.  They are having runny stools although seem to be doing OK.  We are feeding about 4 ounces every 6 hours and also giving them some anti-diarrheal medicine.  Any advice out there would be very much appreciated.  We have never had to bottle feed before.  Thanks so much!


----------------------------------------------------------------------------


    _______________________________________________
    Jacob-list mailing list, sponsored by Swallow Lane Farm & Fiberworks
    Jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
    http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/jacob-list



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  Jacob-list mailing list, sponsored by Swallow Lane Farm & Fiberworks
  Jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
  http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/jacob-list
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20110404/16a1c2d4/attachment-0001.htm>